A&k ptw m4a1
 

I did a quick search and didn't see any posts relating to this. A Scarborough retailer I frequent recently got these A&K PTW M4A1s in stock. I have never seen these before, although I haven't been looking at rifles for some time now, just caught my eye when I visited this retailer's site recently. Has anybody ever used one of these before, or are these "fresh" to the market? What are your guys' thoughts on it? I am in no way interested in purchasing as I am already very well equipped, I'm just rather curious to see what the techies and vets think about it.

I didn't post the link as this isn't in the AV'ed section, so check it out for yourself.

I heard they were better than the G&D PTW (that's not saying much though)

But at par with the Celcius PTW. For <$500 I thought of picking one up, I am also still waiting for a good review to come out.

G&d dtw = a&k ptw ?

The one on kingston sry for goin off topic how is that stores prices they have no proper site yet

No clue.

Necro thread, but still kinda curious if anyone else has had experience with them.

I've seen one, the exterior is wonderful but the electronics are pretty horrid. They have copied the 07 systema boards with modifications. So the electronics can burn out easily on Lipo I'd believe, something you'll need to watch out for. Since there isn't any way to distribute the heat, its the mosfets held together with heat shrink.

Wasn't able to take apart the motor yet or see if the optic boards are real or just a programmed mosfet. But the body looks good. Biggest problem I have seen is that it only likes certain types of mags/ammo.
It has feeding issues and chopping issues with .28 but fine with.25

I'll update when I have more time to actually take it apart and dissect it.

I just ordered one myself, I plan on using the body and filling it with FCC internals over time but in the mean time ill use it as it is.

Ill post my experiences with it once it's arrived and I've had a chance to play around with it.

Appreciate the info. I have finally seen some videos on YouTube that aren't in Thai/Mandarin/Cantonese/Russian and they all play it up like its the next vest thing to a Systema, which I knew couldn't be true so I figured I would ask the guys with no monetary gain on the matter.

Just got it in the mail today.
it doesn't like any of my batteries (8.4v and 9.6v nimh) though so i am unable to test it.

good solid feeling gun though so far.

Can you be more specific with regards to the battery issue?

Tried a stock version vs the tits up version while I was in HK last week, the performance is ok for the price but don't run constant auto burst on LiPO, the motor will heat up fast and rip itself apart. They also don't like underpowered LiPo so invest on a alarm, the outer is on par with CTW internals are definitely systema compatible as they are cloned from the 07/08 electronics. This was supposed to be launched two years ago but due to the massive airsoft crackdown of the A&K factory in China, this project was shelved and all mold and prototype hidden by individual contractors until all party involved was paid by the main factory. The OEM version the motor core is exposed when compared to the Systema or FCC and eventhough they are strong motors they tend to break after a while due to the core overheating and breaking apart from the inside out, this can be remedied with either the CTW, Systema or FCC motors. There is one noticeable flaw on the OEM metal body that most people will not notice until they want to put an after market rail is that their body is slightly cast a bit off to the right, its not noticeable until you want to swapped into a after market rail.

For the price that these were selling in HK it's a good entry gun to the PTW world much like the CTW the performance is good but for the price it's expected that it will fail because these were actual clones and no R&D were put into it unlike the current CTW and FCC but these were not as bad as the G&D or the RAVEN (FCC Clone from the Phillipines) Yes you read that right a clone of FCC. They are much like when CTW first came out, they have issues and hopefully they can get better

It requires 11.1V Lipo or 12V nimh

Huang is there any warranty when purchased from your store?

Ok a little update.

I was able to test the gun by installing a grey cylinder borrowed from a friends gun and shoot with an 11.1v lipo.
So we know the gun is compatible with other brand cylinder which is good.

For some reason though my gun doesn't sound quite right when it shoots, I cant really explain it. Next time i test fire it i will record it and post up the video.

Ive installed madbull vtac extreme battle rail and it fits perfectly.

ive ordered a inner barrel and hop up as well as a lower power cylinder so i will be trying those out next.

ive heard that the A&K ptw doesnt like lipo batteries though, supposedly they over heat the boards? can someone confirm this before i decide to get a lipo battery or a nimh.

The issue i was having with the battery is that they werent strong enough to compress the piston. i either have to lower the velocity by changing out the cylinder or use a more powerful battery - 11.1v or more.

the stock cylinder shoots ~525fps so it shouldnt be used anyways. i bought a g&d blue (m110) cylinder and it works fine on a 9.6v nimh but im picking up a 10.8v to test out

I'm still not sure about picking this up, I might just stick with a Katana and save for a PTW later on.

It does have some flaws but the externals are great, it does need some new parts but its still a cheap PTW once you get the kinks worked out. My buddy is having feeding issues with his currently. I have it on my desk as he can't seem to figure it out so I'll see whats happening and write back. Electronics I added some thin heatsinks to and seems to be maintaining the heat better, since this is a part that will overheat and break.

I downgraded the spring to an M115 and it sounds so much better, and able to run off a9.6V easily. I would definitely stay away from LiPo as the power electronics boards would heat up and toast pretty quickly. Also downgrade the spring before you shoot it, as it struggles quite a bit even with a 12V to pull it, with weak electronics I definitely don't recommend it.

But it also isn't 100% PTW compatiable, the lower doesn't mesh with a PTW upper and vice versa as the body pins are slightly off size

I hear a lot of talk about LiPos and the circuit boards. Would a MOSFET, like say a Gate MERF do something to mitigate that? This is pure speculation.

PTW Circuits work differently than AEG Circuits so a GATE MERF wouldn't work as you don't have the correct contacts. You could figure it out and hard wire it in to make it work.

It follows the same idea as the 07 and older generation circuits, but quite a bit weaker. Its the same reason why 07 don't recommend Lipo or else it'd burn out quite quickly the good thing about the A&K is the stock is 100% PTW compatable so Systema batteries fit into it nicely.

I did a heatsink mod to my buddies, I can email it or try to post it here to see if anyone else is interested on what I did but I haven't done durability or reliability on it yet to see if it can handle a full game or how long it last.

If I'm not mistaken there is some sort of MOSFET already in the buffer tube

There is one for sale at "asiaRsoft.com" and they also have an "AIRO" PTW as well:

http://asiarsoft.com/index.php?8bdab...2f2d=M4A1-ATW1

They are very sensitive to power spikes, the one I witnessed smokin was from a 14.8 Systema LiPo

I wouldn't trust the A&K to lipo the electronics are so fragile, I am scared they will burn out just by looking at them.

Well the night in HK where all of us were playing the rep for A&K and FM crew brought out their new toys (A&K and the Airo) seeing that all the FCC guys are running 14.8V LiPo they try to do the same but the first to go was the AIRO with two of their new guns went down on the staging area, one of tehm were actually smoking. Then the stock A&K went down but not the done up version (it was rigged with a slew of other parts from FCC and Systema)

We were all playing with M150 cylinder at the end of the night the 4 guys from A&K three of them were using FCC Loaner guns and teh FM crew pack up and left after they couldn't get their guns running.

would it run ok with a gen ace 7.4v lipo 2200mah 25c?

Update:

Received my Velocity Grey M130 Cylinder and FCC complete inner barrel and hop up system from TW-Works.

both fit the A&K reciever perfectly.

Tested the gun with a 9.6v NiMH, it shoots fine, didn't get the weird sound I was getting last time which may be because I am using a NiMH battery and not a lipo but as I don't have any lipos around I can't confirm that.

Gun has a lot of kick which none of my previous guns has which is nice.

It does make a bit of noise which is likely due to the amount of torque the thing puts out.

Rate of fire is nothing special on the 9.6v battery but that's to be expected.

Ill add another update once i've put the gun through a field test. Which may not be for a couple weeks.

Define alot of kick?

You will get some movement translated to the body of the body of the gun from the piston slamming into the cylinder head. But it is not much.

Excessive movement of the cylinder forward and back is a sign of an under-shimmed buffer cap, or other tolerance issue. If not addressed immediately, it will lead to damage to cylinder and sector gear.

Basically, if it doesn't hurt your hand to slap the stock to split the receivers open, it is shimmed wrong. If you can open it with thumb pressure only on the charging handle while holding on to the lower, it is shimmed wrong. Poor shimming will also introduce an airseal leak which make output reduced and unpredictable.

This can also be a cause for the sounds you are hearing.

Now, tolerances are going to be little different from the base Systema, and this may make rectifying the problem (if there is one) a little touchy.

'kick' is from the piston hitting the cylinder. it doesn't occur on my other aeg's so im not used to it.

shimming seems to be ok. i have to brace the rifle before slamming the stock to crack it open, its not something i can do without effort.

as a side note i went to chrono the gun today and it is shooting between 416 and 421 fps.

also, the nub in the magazine that came with it has already broken off and disappeared. im told I may have shot it off somehow :/

The same motion and impact of the piston hitting the cylinder exists in every AEG manufactured. The only difference is in the TW platform and a few others who have adapted the mechanics of of their nozzle is in the impact loading. The motion should be pretty smooth. Even with an M150, their will be slight motion, no more than any other AEG.

A stable FPS is a good sign of minimal to no airseal leak, so motion of the cylinder between the chamber and buffer cap should be minimal. You can test it though by openning the dust cover, use a marker to mark a line on the cylinder and see if it moves during firing. If it does, shimming the buffer cap is required.

Now, all of this is contingent on the fact that the body does not flex. If you have a metal body that is intact, this is unlikely to occure. When the gun is set up properly, the lock bearing provides force against the buffer cap. This is countered by forward force against the pivot pin by the upper to balance the forces. Now that there are plastic bodies in TW clones, I expcet to see some flex there. If the barrel nut is not tight, it is a source for movement.

It may be that you are just hypersensitive to sound and movement and attributing what I would consider to be inconsequential to this gun.

most likely. my other aeg's make noise when fired but theres no 'recoil' it may just be because this ptw's higher torque. going from nothing to a tiny bit of 'recoil' is a very big difference which is why i noticed it :p

You would feel a little "recoil" on the A&K their metal body is constructed with a lighter cast metal than others it's almost as if you are holding a regular plastic AEG, when I fired teh A&K in HK there is a bit of "recoil" a bit more torque energy transfer than a regular Systema, CTW or FCC.

*** Also one of the things I noticed when I fired the A&K was that the lower, upper and buffer tube cap is quite sharp and rough on the edges you might want to sand it a bit as it might cut your control cable or yourself by accident

Who in Toronto has springs to bring down fps on the A&K PTW ? It shoots too hot out of the box with the stock cylinder spring.

I have just purchased a A&K M4A1 PTW AEG, and am quite new to the air-soft world.Could someone please help me with a link to a mid-range costing m130 cylinder for this model that would be acceptable to play matches with?Fps somewhere between but not exceeding 420 fps? It would be very much appreciated.

Contact Airsoftdepot, they will have lower powered cylinders coming for the A&K PTW coming soon.

Easier to just replace the spring with a lower powered spring versus buying a new cylinder. Pm'ed

The cylinder that comes with the A&K PTW is the high power red unported cylinder.

The lower power cylinders are all ported.

Since it makes more sense to necro this thread than it does to create a completely new one on the subject, I'm curious, since everyone has had more time to use their A&K PTW's, does anyone have any new opinions regarding them? Are they worth getting or if you were in the same position would you just save up and purchase another platform?

I run mine on 11.1V. Works great and flawless. Had it when they were first available.

My friend went with a G&D. He is now selling it to go the the A&K which has much better exterior and interior.

To my surprise, the outer barrel is "steel" and not aluminum. Confirmed it with a magnet.

Very nice, did you have to replace the circuit boards like some people or did you not have any issue with it overheating?

Still all original. The blown boards are probably from the first batches. If you get one now, it is probably all newer boards.

No overheating (knock on wood) I only use semi. I have over 50 magazines through it by now.

I wonder if Depot will be back in stock with them?

I just bought this A&K PTW it arrived today, and I'm kind of spooked about putting my 11.1V 1000mah LiPo in it after reading this. I got mine from Airsoft Depot it came with a gold cylidner 450fps.

Can anyone reccomend a good safe battery to use? Someone earlier said the SYSTEMA 12V 1300MAH NI-CD BATTERY was safer?:banghead:

Both Systema 12V or 11.1V Lipo can pull that 450fps spring in that gold cylinder.

If you are planning to game it, you may need to change the cylinder that can meet your field limits. Get the KA cylinder, (Gold, M110) http://airsoftdepot.ca/catalog/produ...oducts_id=2460 for outdoor, and the (black,M90) http://airsoftdepot.ca/catalog/produ...oducts_id=2460 for indoors.

Got mine today. Have to wire it to deans before I can do any shooting. I am wondering about the best battery to use to along with what bb's people have had good experiences with.

Parker I have bastard .28's and mine loved them. Also I ran an 11.1 lipo.

I just tested mine the other day. G&G .25 bbs worked well in it although I'd like to run .30 once I get some. I used the 11.1V battery to.Worked perfect.